A Day in the Life (with a 4-month old)

5:45 am: Wake-up to my alarm, throw on work-out clothes, and head down to the gym for a sweaty 15km run on the treadmill while listening to the Jillian Michael's Show podcast and watching the News.

7:20 am: Come back upstairs and play with my little boy while Dan gets ready for work (Finley woke-up around 6:30 am and Dan fed him; ps. he slept THROUGH the night for the second time in a row :))

7:35 am: Hop in the shower, get dressed

7:50 am: Dan leaves for work; I play with Finley.

8:10 am: Finley starts to get fussy, so I pop him in the Baby Bjorn on my chest. He falls asleep. I do my make-up, sterilize bottles, tidy up the kitchen a bit, have some coffee, and read a few blogs. All the while, Friends is playing in the background. I've currently been binge-watching Friends on Netflix... well, sometimes they're more of a background noise than anything, but I've definitely caught a number of hilarious scenes/episodes

9:00 am: I start writing this post. Finley wakes up. I chat with me. He's gotten so "chatty" lately. I absolutely love it.

9:15 am: I get a bottle ready to feed Finley.

9:20 am: I feed Finley (he's starting to take a good 40 minutes to finish the bottle because he's started been chatty and more social; also, he tries to be independent and hold his bottle, but usually puts it all over his face haha). I change him and burp him.

10:10 am: We get ready to head out. On the agenda is David's Tea (I need some form of liquorice root tea for my horribly sore throat as well as my all-time favourite: Forever Nuts!) and Target

10:30 am: Arrive at the mall, get tea, get out.

11:00 am: Get gas, go into Target for formula, diapers, and dish soap (30% off storewide! I'll take it)

11:30 am: Arrive home. Mom stops by for a visit.

12:00 pm: Mom feeds Finley, changes him, and burps him while I do a few things around our place (laundry, hair, etc.). He falls asleep in mom's arms.

1:10 pm: Finley wakes-up, so the three of us head out for some ice coffee and lattes. We sip on our coffees while driving around looking at nice houses. We also make a pit stop to the NSLC for some wine shopping.

2:00 pm: Arrive back home. Finley had a "poop explosion", so I end up having to bath him —and do more laundry.

2:30 pm: We all hang out on the couch, read books, and play.

3:00 pm: Finley starts to get fussy, so I pop him in the Baby Bjorn for a nap. He immediately falls asleep. Bridget comes and her and mom leave to go home (as an aside: Bridget bought Finley this super cute aquarium that attaches to his crib —it lights up, makes bubbles, and plays all kinds of soothing music/sounds)

3:30 pm: Eat. Hydrate. Watch an episode of Friends (LOVE IT!)

4:00 pm: Feed, burp, and change Finley.

4:30 pm: Dan arrives home and takes over for a bit. We chat about our day and play with Finley.

5:15 pm: I'm starting to get hungry, so Dan offers to make me breakfast for supper (egg white omlet with spinach, onion, red pepper, and goat cheese —and toast with copious amounts of almond  butter!).

5:30 pm: Supper is done. I eat. Dan entertains Finley.

5:50 pm: Finley gets fussy, so Dan puts him on his chest in the Baby Bjorn while he eats supper.

6:10 pm: Finley wakes up. We read Finley a couple of books, then I run out to Lawton's to return a breast pump.

6:30 pm: I get back home, hang out with my boys for a few minutes, then Dan's brother (Phil) stops by for a visit with us. He holds Finley and plays with him. We catch up with Phil. He's heading to the West Coast of NFLD for a ski trip tomorrow. A little bit jealous —although somewhere warm would be even nicer ;)

7:10 pm: Finley is hungry. I get a bottle ready. Dan feeds him. I change his diaper and put his jammies on. We tag-team the burping haha

7:40 pm: Finley says good-night to uncle Phil. Dan and I read Finley a bedtime story, give me lots of kisses, and lay him down in his crib.

8:00 pm: I grab a bowl of cereal and look up wedding stuff on Pinterest while chatting with Dan :)

8:45 pm: Get read for bed.

9:00 pm: Bedtime for me haha

ps. Finley has slept through the night TWO nights in a row now (8 30- 7 00 and 8 00- 6 30). Whooooooop!!

Half Marathon Training

Over the past couple of months, I've tried to get back into running. Although I run throughout my entire pregnancy, it was sllllloooow going most of the time haha That's what will happen when you're carrying around an extra 15 pounds! Anyways, right before I found out I was pregnant with Finley, I had started training for the 2014 Bluenose Half Marathon in Halifax. I had actually gotten up to 15 km long runs, but obviously I had to scale back as I got further along in my pregnancy and ultimately, I knew running a half marathon at 3 months pregnant wasn't realistic. I mean it was a serious struggle to make it 15 minutes without having to pee!! Side note: At least twice when Dan and I were out for short runs in the city, I had to go pee in the woods haha Good thing I had Dan as a "look-out".

So, rather than focusing on losing baby weight, etc., etc., I decided to make fitness goal instead, and it was to run a half marathon. I tried to do at least three runs per week and I loosely followed a training plan similar to that below (I ignored the Tuesday technical runs but I was always sure to integrate some hills and speed intervals during my other runs). Unfortunately, the weather here has been so crappy that I did all of my training on the treadmill, which was kind of boring, but hey! it worked.

Speaking of treadmill running, here are some tips for making it "less boring":

1) Listen to podcasts: Some of my favourites are the Jillian Michael Show, The Running Lifestyle Show, and Balanced Bites

2) Have a kick-ass playlist with a lot of upbeat tunes

3) Watch a tv show or movie during long runs (if you don't have a tv near your treadmill or at your gym, use an iPad or tablet)

4) Do speed intervals: Often I would warm-up and then do 30 seconds hard work (9mph pace) and 30 seconds recovery (7mph pace) for 20-30 minutes, then run at a slower pace (for longer runs) or cool-down. Also, just varying your speed in general can help fight boredom

5) Incorporate hill intervals

6) Do Yasso 800s: Sometimes I would warm-up for 15 minutes, do eight Yasso 800s, then cool down for 15 minutes, which would often result in a 10-11 mile run.

7) Or just play around with all of the above to entertain yourself during those long runs ;)


Anyways, back to that half marathon —I did it! I ran the Hypothermic Half Marathon in Halifax on March 1st and boy was it hard. The trail was completely covered in ice and it was super duper cold out that morning at 8am. Luckily I had bought Yak-Treks to put on my running shoes, which help me so so much; otherwise, I think I would have been on my butt more than my feet.

My goal was to run the half marathon in less than 2 hours and despite the crappy conditions, my time was 1:53 minutes, which I was very happy with. Dan and Finley were at the finish line to cheer me on!

I'm hoping to do a few more half marathons or runs this Spring/Summer —any suggestions?

 

Super Easy Weeknight Meal Ideas

I thought that I would do a post for super easy meal ideas. Since having Finley, we've been all about delicious, convenient, and easy to make meals. So here's a little round-up of some of the meals that we've been enjoying lately!


Italian-Style Crockpot Stuffed Peppers: Sweet Tooth Life

Pulled Pork in a Crockpot: 100 Days of Real Food

Thai Peanut Butter Veggie Salad (I used chicken instead of tofu): Peachy Palate

Rainbow Chicken Salad: Pinch of Yum

Taco Salad (SO good and super quick): Ari's Menu

Vegan Chili (I throw everything in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours; also, I add a whole sweet potato cubed and a can of corn niblets): Oh She Glows

Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker (add or substitute any type of veggies or herbs you want): The Little Kitchen

Mexican Pulled Chicken (I added in a can of black beans and corn niblets, and served with brown rice, cheese, plain greek yogurt, and sweet potato tortilla chips): Sweet Tooth Life


We've also been enjoying chicken and veggie stir fry; flatbread pizzas with pesto, goat cheese, and roasted veggies; and spinach salads topped with roasted onion, sweet potato, peppers, chicken, and goat cheese.

White Chocolate Cake Batter Cookies With Sprinkles!

For a few days now, I've had a craving for something reaaaalllllly sweet and I finally decided to give into the craving today. I wanted something sweet, but not necessarily "chocolately", so these white chocolate cake batter cookies with sprinkles were perfect! They were soft, dense, and oh so delicious. The recipe was slightly adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Here's what you'll need:

1 box of white cake mix (432 grams; I used French Vanilla by Betty Crocker)

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/3 salted butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and either line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease it. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter (cool slightly), vanilla, and eggs until well mixed. Add in the cake mix and baking powder, and stir until combined, then stir in the white chocolate chips followed by the rainbow sprinkles. Don't stir in the sprinkles too much because they might dye your cookie dough. 

The dough is SUPER sticky, so using a spoon, drop balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. My dough balls were about the size of a golf ball. Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies shouldn't be brown on top, but this is okay because they will harden up a bit once cooled —plus you want the cookies to be soft and gooey. Let the cookies cool for 5 or so minutes on the baking sheet before placing them on a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Enjoy! :)

ps. I'm sure you could do all kinds of variations of this recipe —vary the kind of cake mix (chocolate,  rainbow, lemon, etc.), chocolate chips (milk, dark, butterscotch), and sprinkles (add them, don't add them, chocolate sprinkles). 

Finley Hugh: 15 weeks old

Our little boy is 15 weeks old. It's crazy how time has flown by so quickly. He's growing like a weed (He's wearing 9-12 month clothes —what?! How did this happen?!). It seems like he's learning something new or surprising us with something new, each and every day. We feel truly blessed to have Finley in our lives. He is such a amazingly sweet little boy who brings big smiles to our faces and tears to our eyes. 

My absolute favourite time with Finley is first thing in the morning. He's a morning person like his mama, so he's usually happy, smiley, and full of energy. I love going to get him from his crib and being greeted with his beautiful smile. No matter how "rough" our night was, his smile just starts my day off on a positive note.

I also love our story time together. For the past few weeks, Finley has shown more and more interest in books while we're reading to him. Usually, he is content to sit through 2-4 books at a time. Lately, we've been reading a lot of the classic Robert Munsch books (e.g., Paperbag Princess; Boy in the Drawer; Purple, Green, and Yellow; Moira's Birthday) and Leslie Patricelli books (e.g., Toot; Huggy Kissy; Potty; Tubby) who our friends Jenn and Isaac introduced us to.

Sleep is getting better. We've had a few 5-6 hour stretches now, but for the past week, Finley has started teething (!!!), so he's been waking up a bit more frequently. I think our sleep routine has really helped. Between 7-7 30, we feed Finley, change him, put his jambes on, and read him a couple of stories, then kiss him goodnight before putting him in his crib. It seems to work like a charm (knock on wood) and he always goes to sleep on his own without much (if any) fussing. In terms of napping, they aren't really happening that much or at least not with any predictibility haha Usually Finley will have a couple of random cat naps in the morning, and one or two longer naps in the afternoon, but as I mentioned, they're really unpredictable. Also, he won't nap in his crib. He'll only nap on either Dan or I in the Baby Bjorn.

Finley rolled over for the first time on the day Dan proposed (February 20th). He rolled over three times, but he hasn't done it since. I'm wondering if he just liked the soft carpet at Nanny and Grampy's house, and felt like he could explore more safely. Finley also went swimming for the first time last week (February 25th) at the Canada Games Centre. Because he enjoys the bath so much, we thought we would give swimming a try. Well, it was a success. We were in the pool for about 20 minutes and although Finley didn't smile a lot, he didn't cry. I think he was a bit ambivalent to the whole thing, but I bet it will grow on him as we keep going each week.

Recently, Finley has been enjoying playing with a few of his toys. He especially likes Ted the turtle, Sophie the giraffe, and Arnold and Elli the elephants (yes, we may have named all of his toys;))! We seriously take Ted with us everywhere because it's his absolute favourite. Finley really enjoys chewing on his head and shell, and exploring all of the different textures on Ted. Our little boy also lovvvves looking at himself in the mirror haha It's actually super cute. He's really interested in himself, especially his feet (I think he just discovered that they're part of his body). Finley has been enjoying tummy time and sitting up more and more. In fact, I think he actually prefers to sit up rather than lay down because he can see more of his surroundings this way. He's able to bear his weight on his legs and stay standing when I hold his hands. We just did this this morning and he giggled the whole time —he was really impressed with his standing posture ;)